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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

NASA honors the life and pioneering achievements of original Mercury astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) during a memorial service at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15, at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, long-time associates and family friends will pay tribute to Cooper. He was 77 when he passed away at his home in Ventura, Calif. Cooper was one of the first seven U.S. astronauts. He flew the sixth and final flight of Project Mercury in May 1963. Cooper also flew the third flight of the Gemini Program with Charles (Pete) Conrad, Jr. in August 1965.

Due to limited seating, the general public is invited to watch the service on NASA TV and the agency's homepage on the Web at: www.nasa.gov. The memorial service is in JSC's Teague Auditorium. A tree planting ceremony will follow at the nearby Memorial Tree Grove.

Additional information about Cooper and NASA's early space achievements is available on the Internet at:

I wish I could be there. My condolences go out to his family. Now, to paraphrase part of the poem "High Flight", Gordo has 'Slipped the surly bonds of earth, put out his hand and touched the face of God'.